Friday, September 9, 2011

For Someone Allegedly so Smart....

Despite my contempt for the man and irritability for interrupting the buildup to the NFL kickoff, I decided this morning to go in and read the official transcript for the president's speech last night.

Man did he ever say things I could agree with! For example "...the only solution to our economic challenges is to simply cut most government spending and eliminate most government regulations." Amazing!!!! Unfortunately, taken in context, he was bashing this beautiful idea.

Mr. obama did pose some interesting questions though. Where would we be if the government hadn't spent millions to build roads and bridges and airports? Where would we be if they hadn't developed the internet? Where would we be without our third class public education system?

I loved this line:

"No single individual built America on their own. We built it together. We have been, and always will be, one nation, under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all; a nation with responsibilities to ourselves and with responsibilities to one another. Members of Congress, it is time for us to meet our responsibilities. "

Let me just take a moment to refute. Bullshit. No SINGLE individual did anything, but don't for one minute believe that our greatness comes from collectivism. It is the spirit of individuality, the freedom and opportunities to separate themselves from the pack and innovate to improve their own lives that has led to the greatest innovations in our history.

The president spoke of the internet. Yes, it was developed by the defense department and further used by universities and researchers, but the technology was relatively stagnant until it was opened up to commercial use. Individuals, seeking to profit themselves and their families are what propelled the internet into the economic giant that it has become.

Roads? Airports? Private parties would have built them, and we'd pay for what we use instead of paying in Texas for roads to be built in Alabama. Let me paint you a picture. I lived for several years in the Dallas Metroplex. It is absolutely, one of my favorite places in the world. The roads are decent, crowded at times, but decent. The Metroplex is a great area though, to illustrate my point about public vs. private investment. You see, Dallas needed a LOT of new roads. It has grown in populations by leaps and bounds since the late 90's and the infrastructure was sorely tested.

Instead of taking out public debt in the form of bond issuances, or instituting new taxes, they tried something old yet innovative given today's realities. They worked with a private company to build a widespread series of traffic corridors. The construction and maintenance of these corridors was privately funded. In exchange for a grant of the land from the State the private organization agreed to build and maintain the roads for a period of years at which point they would revert to State ownership and responsibility. Let me tell you, these were some of the safest, best designed roads in the city. They were always well maintained, included courtesy patrols, monitoring, and congestion control. And, if you lived in the area and didn't want to use them, you never had to pay for them.

Now, let's talk about government subsidies for airports. Until recently, the federal government was paying for airports in areas that saw so little traffic as to be commercially unviable. Millions of dollars each year were spent so that fewer than 10,000 people could take flights from remote areas. I realize that there were more than 10,000 people in these remote areas, but fewer than 10,000 people actually utilized these airports. In comparison, more than that fly out of DFW airport every day. The ridiculousness of the situation was such that airlines would fly their normal routes with entirely empty planes in order to receive the government handout.

So, with all due respect Mr. president, I'll take a free market and the individual spirit of Americans over your jaded collectivist views any day.

The last part of the speech that I'll touch on is what Mr. obama calls the American Jobs Act. Details are sketchy, but what we are told so far is that it's more government stimulus. $474 billion in spending. That means $474 billion in money that will be printed now and stolen from the private sector later. As part of this, he wants to eliminate tax loopholes for the wealthy and for corporations.

You might be surprised that I'm ALL for eliminating tax loopholes....in conjunction with lowering the overall tax rate. 0% for Individual Income Tax sounds just about right to me.